Central Garden & Pet Company (CENT) Expected Move
Expected move estimates the probable price range for a given period based on at-the-money options pricing. It reflects the market consensus for volatility over the selected timeframe.
Central Garden & Pet Company (CENT) operates in the Consumer Defensive sector, specifically the Packaged Foods industry, with a market capitalization near $2.39B, listed on NASDAQ, employing roughly 6,000 people, carrying a beta of 0.54 to the broader market. Central Garden & Pet Company produces and distributes various products for the lawn and garden, and pet supplies markets in the United States. Led by Nicholas Lahanas, public since 1992-07-15.
Snapshot as of May 15, 2026.
- Spot Price
- $37.41
- Expected Move
- 10.6%
- Implied High
- $41.36
- Implied Low
- $33.46
- Front DTE
- 34 days
As of May 15, 2026, Central Garden & Pet Company (CENT) has an expected move of 10.55%, a one-standard-deviation implied price range of roughly $33.46 to $41.36 from the current $37.41. Expected move is derived from at-the-money straddle pricing and represents the market's pricing of a ±1σ move. Roughly 68% of outcomes should fall within this range under lognormal assumptions, though empirical markets have fatter tails.
CENT Strategy Sizing to the Expected Move
With Central Garden & Pet Company pricing an expected move of 10.55% from $37.41, risk-defined strategies sized to the implied range structurally target the modal outcome distribution. Iron condors with wings at the ±1σ expected move boundaries collect premium against the ~68% probability that spot stays inside the range under lognormal assumptions; strangles set wider at ±1.5σ or ±2σ target the tails but pay smaller per-trade premium. Long-vol structures (long straddles, ratio backspreads) profit when realized move exceeds the implied move, the inverse trade: they bet against the lognormal assumption itself, capitalizing on the empirically fatter equity-return tails.
Learn how expected move is reported and how to read the data →
Per-expiration expected move for CENT derived from ATM implied volatility at each listed expiration. Implied high/low bounds are computed as $37.41 × (1 ± expected move %). One standard-deviation range under lognormal assumptions, roughly 68% of outcomes fall inside.
| Expiration | DTE | ATM IV | Expected Move | Implied High | Implied Low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 18, 2026 | 34 | 36.8% | 11.2% | $41.61 | $33.21 |
| Jul 17, 2026 | 63 | 31.9% | 13.3% | $42.37 | $32.45 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | 154 | 33.3% | 21.6% | $45.50 | $29.32 |
| Dec 18, 2026 | 217 | 34.6% | 26.7% | $47.39 | $27.43 |
| Jan 15, 2027 | 245 | 31.3% | 25.6% | $47.00 | $27.82 |
Frequently asked CENT expected move questions
- What is the current CENT expected move?
- As of May 15, 2026, Central Garden & Pet Company (CENT) has an expected move of 10.55% over the next 34 days, implying a one-standard-deviation price range of $33.46 to $41.36 from the current $37.41. The expected move is derived from at-the-money straddle pricing and represents the market consensus for a ±1σ price move.
- What does the CENT expected move mean for traders?
- Roughly 68% of outcomes should fall within ±1 expected move and 95% within ±2 under lognormal assumptions, though equity returns have empirically fatter tails than log-normal predicts. Strategies sized to the expected move (iron condors at ±1σ, strangles at ±1.5σ) target the typical outcome distribution; strategies that profit from tail moves (long-vol structures, ratio backspreads) target the tails the lognormal model under-prices.
- How is CENT expected move calculated?
- The expected move displayed here is derived from at-the-money implied volatility scaled to the chosen tenor: expected move % is approximately ATM IV times sqrt(T / 365), where T is days to expiration. An equivalent straddle-based form: the ATM straddle (call + put at the same strike) is roughly sqrt(2/pi) times spot times IV times sqrt(T/365), so the implied one-standard-deviation move is approximately 1.25 times ATM straddle divided by spot. The two formulations agree once the sqrt(2/pi) constant is reconciled.